Charles William ABEL

ABEL, CHARLES WILLIAM (b. London, England, 25 Sept 1862; d. England, 30 April 1930). LMS missionary in Papua New Guinea.

Trained at Cheshunt College, Abel was appointed by LMS to New Guinea in 1890. In August 1891 with F W Walker, he established Kwato, an island near Samarai, as the headstation for the LMS at the east end of British New Guinea (later Papua). By 1892 Kwato was reasonably habitable, and Abel married Beatrice Moxon (l869-1939). They taught, besides elementary subjects with an emphasis on good English, sophisticated domestic crafts for girls, and a broad range of technical skills for boys, to the point where Abel and Walker found themselves at odds in policy with other LMS missionaries in New Guinea. Walker resigned in 1896. The Abels continued to develop their ideas. Products made by the converts were sold at Samarai. Children were segregated from parents and village life, and as adults continued to work at their trades for the mission, becoming lay evangelists.

Abel, a persuasive speaker, propagated his ideas while on furlough in England in 1900, producing Kwato, New Guinea, 1890-1900. At this time he also wrote for LMS a children's book Savage Life in New Guinea. After returning to New Guinea in 1901, he became involved in championing the rights of Papuans against depredations by Europeans. He also spoke out strongly against the Goaribari affray in 1904, which resulted in a Royal Commission.

Christian businessmen inclined to philanthropy saw Abel's ideas as practical Christianity. Abel went further when he sought with such donations to establish plantations for the production of copra which unskilled converts could operate and return profits to the mission. While the LMS directors in London agreed, the local missionaries objected both on policy and religious grounds. Rather than allow the plantations to be sold, in 1917, Abel with considerable lay support, persuaded the directors to establish the Kwato Extension Association separate from the LMS, and with Abel remaining in charge as an honorary missionary.

Abel set out on a fund raising tour of England 1922-24. Unsuccessful, he accepted an invitation from evangelist L. Moody to tour the USA. There, he found a supporting group who were incorporated as the New Guinea Evangelisation Society. While the work at Kwato flourished over the next six years, negotiations ensued to buy the properties from the LMS, till in 1929-30, Abel travelled to America and England to settle the business. He died after a motor accident in England, but his wife and family continued the work at Kwato.

Abel was an evangelical fundamentalist, in contrast to other LMS missionaries in Papua. The Kwato system with its emphasis on good English, sportsmanship, discipline, technical skills and the settlement system, created an elite which in the 1950s during the lead up to self-government, was much admired. Critics saw the system as 'hot house' and paternalistic. Abel believed that his converts must be given self respect and European skills in order to survive the impact of social change.

R W Abel, Charles W. Abel of Kwato (New York, 1934); ADB 7; Council for World Mission Archives, SOAS, London University; N F Lutton, 'Larger than life: a biography of Charles Abel of Kwato' (MA thesis, University of Papua New Guinea, 1979); Abel Papers, University of Papua New Guinea, Library

NANCY LUTTON